How to Enable/ Disable Visual Search Button in Microsoft Edge
Microsoft is currently working on integrating Bing’s visual search into its Edge browser. In addition to the ability to search images via a right-click context menu option, there is now also a dedicated visual search button that appears when you hover over images. In this article, we have described the steps to enable or disable visual search in Microsoft Edge.
Enable/Disable Visual Search in Microsoft Edge (2022)
What is Visual Search in Microsoft Edge?
Visual search is a Microsoft Edge feature that allows you to look up images from websites in the Microsoft search engine Bing. The feature is baked into the Edge browser and is useful for anyone who frequently searches images for the source or is looking for similar images.
Microsoft has been testing the Visual Search feature since Edge 96, but now has it enabled by default with Edge 99. At the time of writing this article, Microsoft Edge 99 is in the Canary Channel. We expect the feature to make its way to the stable channel in subsequent updates. Follow the steps below to learn how to enable or disable the feature.
Enable visual search in Microsoft Edge
1. Open Edge, click the horizontal three-dot menu in the top right corner and select “Settings” to access Edge settings.
2. Switch to the “Appearance” tab from the left sidebar and click on “Visual Search” under the “Context Menus” section.
3. Now, toggle the “Show visual search on the context menu” and “Show visual search on floating image” switches. While the former adds the option to perform a visual search from the right-click context menu, the latter gives you the option to hover over an image to search it on Bing.
Disable visual search in Microsoft Edge
1. Click the horizontal three-dot menu in the top right corner of the Edge browser and select “Settings” from the context menu to open Edge’s settings page.
2. Navigate to the ‘Appearance’ section from the left sidebar and click on “Visual Search” to access the controls to disable visual search on Edge.
3. Here, uncheck the “Show visual search in the context menu” switch to remove the visual search option from the right-click context menu. likewise, you need to turn off the “Show visual search on image hover” switch to remove the visual search button on images in Microsoft’s Chromium-based browser.
Disable visual search for specific websites in Microsoft Edge
If you want to disable the visual search button when hovering over images on a specific set of websites, you can do that too. Follow the instructions below to see how it works:
1. Open Visual Search Settings by navigating to Settings -> Appearance and click the “Add” button next to the “Visual search is disabled for these sites” option.
2. You must now type or paste the URL of the website for which you want to disable visual search. After entering the URL, click the “Add” button, and you’re all set. The browser no longer displays the visual search button on this particular website.
3. If you change your mind later, click the trash can icon next to a website’s name to make Visual Search functional again on that website. You may want to consider turning off the visual search cloud storage websites to avoid accidentally searching your personal images.
Edge Visual Search Alternative for Chrome Desktop: Google Lens
If you’re a Google Chrome user who wants a similar feature in their web browser, you’ll be glad to know it already exists. Starting with Chrome 92, Google has added Google Lens support to Chrome desktop. Accessible from the right-click context menu, you can: use the “Search images with Google Lens” function to search images using Lens or Google Images reverse image search.
Try Visual Search in Microsoft Edge
Visual search makes it easy to look up images on Edge. However, it is not the only option you have. For similar alternatives, check out our article on the best reverse image search apps and websites. And for more such useful Edge features, don’t forget to check out our article on the best Edge tips and tricks.
